Latino Council urges support of tuition bill

The Latino Student Council did not give up when they learned the
In-State Tuition Act they have been advocating for more than a year
did not even reach the governor's desk.

Instead, they plan to bring the bill — which aims to allow
undocumented students to pay in-state tuition — before the
University Board of Governor's this semester, hoping the governing
body could approve the bill University-wide, said Jorge Casalins,
political chair of the Latino Student Council.

Because Gov. Chris Christie already said he would veto the bill,
Casalins said the council will ask the University to allow
undocumented students to pay in-state tuition by simply providing
proof that they have been living in New Jersey for one year,
something he says has been done by Bergen County College's board of
governors.

The Rutgers University Student Assembly approved the resolution
in April, said Casalins, a School of Arts and Sciences
sophomore.

"We believe that if you're living in-state you shouldn't have to
pay out-of-state rates," said RUSA President Yousef Saleh. "We want
the administration to take a more vocal approach. We want them to
have a more vocal endorsement of it."

Undocumented students currently pay out-of-state tuition, priced
at $21,682, while in-state tuition is priced at $9,926, according
to the University Admissions' website. Both rates exclude fees and
room and board rates.

Casalins said most undocumented students are not attending
college because of these high rates, and they cannot receive any
form of financial aid.

Allowing these students to attend the University at the in-state
tuition rate would bring more money into the University because
more people would be able to afford it, he said.

"At this moment, undocumented students are not attending the
University at a high rate because they cannot afford it," Casalins
said. "This would open up [the University] to more students."

But Shirley Weitz, the University's associate general counsel,
said the University does not have the right to approve the bill. It
is a state policy for undocumented students to pay out-of-state
tuition, and the University is a state-run institution, she
said.

New Jersey Administrative Code 9A:5, which requires that
individuals be a resident of the state for 12 months before
becoming eligible for in-state tuition, governs the University's
policy on legal residency, according to the University Admissions'
website.

"We are governed by the statue. The statute is what is actually
passed by the legislature," said Weitz. "The department of higher
education promulgates regulations that essentially translate what
the legislature says. There basically are two forms of tuition:
In-state and out-of-state, and Rutgers does not have any power to
change that."

According to the policy, individuals who are domiciled in New
Jersey for at least 12 months are presumed to be legal residents of
the state for tuition purposes. But Weitz said there is an
important distinction between domicile and residency that people
tend to overlook.

"Individuals who don't have the permanent right to remain in the
United States — and that includes legal aliens as well as
undocumented aliens — cannot be domiciled in any state in the
United States until they actually have the permanent right to
remain in the United States," she said.

Weitz said there have been bills submitted to the legislature to
provide in-state tuition for any student regardless of
documentation status who graduated from a New Jersey high school,
but it excludes immigrants who are in the process of obtaining
legal status.

"Ironically, the legislation that has been proposed would
exclude legal aliens. So in other words, if an individual's parents
are waiting for a green card — at least in the bills I have seen —
those individuals would be excluded," she said.

Saleh, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said if a student
has been a New Jersey resident and attended school in the state,
the fact that they are still undocumented should not hinder their
opportunity to achieve a higher education at a more affordable
rate.

"If they're making the necessary arrangements to become a U.S.
citizen and they've attended school in New Jersey, then we feel
they should be given in-state tuition rates," he said.

The council still hopes to raise more awareness about the
resolution, which passed in 10 other states, including New York and
California.

Casalins said the council just wants to speak up for those
affected but are not completely aware of the issues with the
out-of-state tuition policy.

"A lot of them don't even know that they're undocumented when
they are brought here by their parents, and I'm not just talking
about Latinos," he said. "A lot of times they can't speak up for
themselves. It's kind of our job to speak up for those who don't
have a voice."